Strawberry Cheesecake Quick Bread

Hello!

I'm still here!

I have a confession.  When I'm bored, I bake.  Some people take naps.  Some read.  Some do things they probably aren't supposed to.  I just bake.  I find it relaxing and ending result is usually something pretty darn delicious.

Enter in strawberries and cream cheese.  One of God's greatest pairings.  Back in college when I lived about a block from a Dairy Queen {big time trouble} I used to order their strawberry cheesecake blizzard. Probably 1,000+ calories but worth every bite.  Then I married a guy whose favorite dessert is strawberry cheesecake.  Two peas in a pod, I tell ya.

So whatever day I made this bread I was bored.  I initially was going to do my stand by banana bread, but then realized I didn't have enough ripe bananas.  So I improvised and came up with this.

See that jar of jam?  That goes into this bread too.  I recommend a high quality, preferably homemade jam to put into this bread {I'm a bit snobby about my jam}.  We have around 10 jars of this left in our freezer.  I hope and pray we make it till mid-June when I make my next yearly batch.

I pray for more things that just my jam supply.  Just so you know.

The other key to this bread is semi-melting half of the cream cheese to put into the batter and then dicing the rest to fold into the batter right before baking.  Oh, so lovely!

Strawberry Cheesecake Quick Bread

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1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. honey
2 eggs
3/4 c. strawberry jam
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/2 c. buttermilk

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray 2 loaf pans with cooking spray.
2.  In a stand or hand mixer combine half of the softened cream cheese, softened butter, sugar and honey until creamy.
3.  Add in eggs, vanilla and jam.
4.  Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  Add this mixture alternatively with the buttermilk, ending with flour.
5.  Cut the remaining half of the cream cheese into small chunks and fold into the batter.
6.  Pour into the greased loaf pans and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7.  Cool for 5 minutes, then remove from the loaf pans and allow to finish cooling on a baking rack.
8.  If desired serve with additional strawberry jam.

This bread is great to give to a friend, or to hoard to yourself like I did.  Our kids loved having a slice with their breakfast or for an afternoon snack.  It freezes well too!